Daniel Melerowicz Structural lack or relational deficit? A comparative analysis of subjectivity and symptom in Lacan, Freud, and Kernberg in the light of the register of the Real

Abstrakt

The article compares the conceptualization of subjectivity and the symptom in Lacanian psychoanalysis, Freudian drive theory, and Kernberg’s object relations theory. It addresses clinical challenges such as silence, resistance, and feelings of emptiness. While relational models view these phenomena as structural deficits requiring ego-strengthening, Lacanian theory reframes them as constitutive of the subject’s relation to the Real. The analysis highlights how the Lacanian register of the Real offers a complementary perspective to the deficit models dominant in Polish clinical practice.